The allocation and management of shared resources is an integral component of wireless communication systems. It is straightforward to implement a resource management method for a communication system which supports a plurality of communication units with uniform resource size requirements. Uniform resource size requirements imply that each communication unit operates with the same bandwidth, time-slot length, or more generally the same amount of any of the radio signal resources known in the art.
In the case where the resource being managed is the frequency of a signal, the available spectrum is divided into equal-width frequency slots, with the width of each slot being equal to the communication unit signal bandwidth. The resource management method then consists of assigning each communication unit, as it requests access to the communication system, to one of these available frequency slots. The communication unit is then able to transmit or receive within the assigned frequency slot. If no frequency slots are available, the resource management method dictates that the communication unit is not assigned to any frequency slot and is therefore unable to transmit or receive. Likewise, in the case where the resource being managed is the transmission and/or reception time duration of a signal, a time frame may be divided into equal-width time slots, with the width of each slot being equal to the communication unit transmission and/or reception time duration. The resource management method then consists of assigning each communication unit, as it requests access to the communication system, to one of these available time slots. The communication unit is then able to transmit or receive within the assigned time slot. If no time slots are available, the resource management method dictates that the communication unit is not assigned to any time slot and is therefore unable to transmit or receive.
Allocating and managing resources in a communication system that uses uniform bandwidth frequency slots is well known in the art. FIG. 1, numeral 100, shows a signal bandwidth divided into uniform width frequency slots as is known in the art. In this illustrative example, the resource in question is frequency. The signal bandwidth shows four frequency slots (110, 120, 130, 140), three of which (110, 120, 140) are occupied by signals (152, 162, 172) originating from a plurality of communication units (150, 160, 170, respectively). In this scenario, the resource allocation and management strategy is very straightforward. If a new communication unit (180) wants to access the system, the resource manager merely needs to check if there are any available frequency slots and if so, assign the new communication unit (180) to one of these slots. In the present example, frequency slot (130) is unoccupied. Therefore, communication unit (180) can be assigned to frequency slot (130) and begin transmitting or receiving its signal (182) in that portion of the frequency spectrum. Similarly, allocating and managing resources in a communication system that uses uniformly sized time slots is also well known in the art.
However, these prior art resource allocation and management methods are not applicable to a communication system or group of communication systems which support multiple resource sizes. Therefore, a need exists for a method, system, base station, head-end unit, and subscriber unit that provide for efficient resource management in a communication system or group of communication systems supporting a plurality of communication units, where different communication units may have different or varying resource size requirements.